Friday, January 28, 2011

Pundits, pols, and bloggers from all over are watching our mayoral race like they have the right to comment on it or something. A sampling of not-so-local flavors:

— White House President Barack Obama (who currently doesn't live in Chicago most of the time) won't pick a favorite for the Super Bowl but is totally fine with publicly supporting Rahm—which helps the candidate make better campaign commercials.

— On Tuesday, while Emanuel was temporarily off the ballot, the Washington Post's Stephen Stromberg thought out loud, "hm, I wonder what I could write about today." And then he got himself a bowl of muesli, sat down at his desk, and wrote a column titled, "Can Rahm Emanuel Bounce Back?," in which he wondered aloud, again, if Emanuel's courtroom saga would hurt or help him with voters. Conclusion: Maybe! "Voters, of course, are free to change their minds."

— Stromberg's question was so astute that the New York Times pursued its own iteration, asking, "Will Court Battle Hurt Emanuel With Chicago Voters?" Conclusion: Maybe! (Looks like both major papers laid off their newsroom wizards, who used to answer such questions about the future.)

— Bloomberg, which is run by a mayor, doesn't provide an opinion (fairness?) but does share the detail that Emanuel won't let anybody make the word "resident" during family Scrabble games. Violations provoke intense Emanuelian outbursts of table-stabbing.

— Dick Morris wants to Rahmstop Emanuel, describing him as "the most ruthless, aggressive, ambitious, radical, take-no-prisoners politician in America." Morris likes Gery Chico. "Chico is not ideal," says Morris. "He’s no tea party activist. But he is honest."